The week in transportation, Nov. 1 edition

Being a pedestrian in India can be scary stuff? The above report by Al Jazeera features some Frogger-like shots of people trying to cross the road amid speeding traffic. There's all sorts of factors at play, the basic problem being that rules of the road are apparently optional to many motorists.

Citizens are trying to limit commercial growth in Santa Monica because traffic is bad enough. But Measure T may not work, says an article by Nate Berg on the Planetizen website, because growth may just be shoved over to neighboring cities and such citizen initiatives sometimes lack the nuances needed. The big question is whether Measure T would improve traffic if it passes -- and many opponents, not surprisingly, are skeptical.

A guy named Steve submitted the photo to the right to The Times' Your Scene feature. He only said it's along Highway 201.

Flying Pigeon LA held a Measure R debate that you can watch on its website. It's extremely refreshing to hear someone besides politicians talk about the pros and cons of the measure.

The latest in mass transit advertising? Digital ads on the side of a bus, say Chicago transit officials. I kid you not. Chicago Tribune

Remember President Bush? Turns out he's still in office, and so are his appointees at the Bureau of Land Management. The agency has recently determined that a pair of canyons that could qualify to be wilderness areas are better used for oil and gas drilling, meaning lots of trucks and likely new roads rumbling in and out of the area. The rub: the agency found just the opposite back in 1999. Washington Post

General Motors is on the brink and it's no secret why: executives for the past 20 years kept pushing the company to produce giant SUVs that reaped the company $10,000 in profit or more per vehicle. At one point, a plant in Janesville, Wis., was retooled to build SUVs and was at one point producing 250,000 vehicles annually. You can probably guess the rest. Most of the factory's workers have been laid off and the rest are on the way out. And what do executives of GM have to say? They never expected gas prices to shoot up the way they did. So sad. The New York Times story by Bill Vlasic and Nick Bunkley focuses on the Janesville plant.

And about those new bag searches on the Washington Metro theater? Security theater, says one expert in an online chat with Washington Post readers. The expert also says it will likely make the system less safe because of the time and resources consumed by the searches.

Among the many reports released by the U.N. is one looking closely at cities. Among the findings are that cities in developed countries are growing by three million people a week. Also, cities need to do something about greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector. No surprise there. NYT's Dot Earth blog

-- Steve Hymon